Chapter 6
Amreth
A fter eighteen hours traveling to the edge of our sector of the galaxy, and four days after Ciara’s abduction, I finally began my descent into Kestria’s atmosphere. Despite the unofficial mandate given to me by the Enforcers, the deep-rooted Obosian side of me that demanded I abide by the laws still twitched about violating the Prime Directive. In truth, I expected to borderline feel physically ill at that prospect. But the need to rescue my mate—a woman I had never even met—superseded everything else.
My heart soared when only minutes after I pierced through the atmosphere, my tracker went off, indicating it was finally picking up the signal from Ciara’s implant. Two additional signals confirmed that Mehreen and Ernst were also with her. That was a major relief. Had they been split up, it might have significantly complicated any rescue effort.
To my surprise, the signal didn’t emanate anywhere near the Sangoth villages, but on the other side of the mountain range where they dwelled. It was in the valley, at a nearly two-hour flight from there. Although confused by this, it also brought me some measure of relief. The Sangoths dwelled in the frozen peaks of the mountains. Without proper winter equipment, humans would struggle in those frozen temperatures.
The whole journey here, I dug up everything I could about my Ciara. All that I read further fueled the pride I felt knowing that she was mine. Beyond her stellar record and flawless background check, she had been a prodigy in school, obtaining her first doctorate at the age of twenty-three. She received countless prizes and awards over the years, many of which opened the type of doors people would beg to have access to.
Despite the numerous fancy appointment offers she received, Ciara declined them all to pursue selfless missions on primitive planets in dire need. She also focused on research that could have a tremendous impact on the medical world, but that wouldn’t give her the type of glamour and exposure that many of her colleagues sought, like Elias Jacobs.
But will she want to settle on Molvi?
That question plagued me relentlessly. Obviously, as the Warden of my Sector, I couldn’t leave. Sectors actually belonged to a bloodline. My family had managed ours for many generations. It was a tremendous honor to be the Warrior chosen to take over that responsibility. For all its challenges, I loved what I did. Even now, I felt guilty for being absent and unloading my duties onto my best friend Kronos, and my cousin Silas.
It shamed me all the more that Kronos already had his hands full taking care of his own Sector on top of preparing for the arrival of his first child. I could only hope that we would be able to swiftly resolve the issues here. At least, I took comfort in the fact that I had kept my Sector in good order, and unless something totally unexpected derailed things, handling my prisoners in my absence shouldn’t be too heavy a burden.
As I flew over the dense forest framed by a wide river, I absent-mindedly scanned for the local wildlife. While most of them seemed fairly small, a few larger ones traveling at high speed indicated some areas might not be safe to wander. Those creatures definitely looked like vicious predators.
My confusion steadily grew as I closed in on the location of the implants. They clearly emanated from a sprawling village up ahead. Although of pleasant appearance and sturdy construction, it was undeniably primitive. Beyond the fact that they clearly had not achieved space travel, I doubted they even possessed electricity.
On my journey here, I heavily speculated as to what could be going on. My main theory had been that an advanced species secretly established a base here, and that they abducted these scientists to complete the project they illegally began with Jacobs.
But this definitely was not it.
I flew over the village in stealth mode to get a first view of the lay of the land. The incredibly large number of males to the much lower ratio of females disturbed me. The drastically low number of younglings raised even more flags. On my way here, I had not detected any of them traipsing in the surrounding wilderness, which might have explained such an imbalance had they been out on a field trip or on the hunt.
That everyone remained at the village—at least in appearance—also seemed odd. About thirty males and a handful of females labored outside the main gates of the village, plowing the fields that spread on both sides of the main road to the entrance. I shifted my vision to glance at their souls. To my relief, they had the overall peaceful shades of common, decent folks. None of them displayed the orange or reddish hue of evil or ill intentions.
But what does evil look like for them?
Over the years, I encountered some rare species who would never qualify to join the United Planets Organization. Their moral values clashed too radically with ours. Things we would deem unconscionable and atrocious were considered normal and as part of the survival of the fittest. They didn’t commit those acts out of cruelty. Our shock and outrage genuinely confused them. How did you prosecute people who saw the world through completely different lenses from your own?
I zoomed in on the males outside to get a better look at them. Their simian appearance threw me for a loop. The bioscan confirmed that there were no records of such a species in our database.
“What in Tharmok’s name is going on?” I whispered to myself.
The scan indicated a single high-tech building, which turned out to be a missing deployable laboratory of the Interstellar Doctors Organization. How in the world had such a primitive species gotten their hands on it? Why did they have those three scientists working inside it? The thought that Sectarian invaders were using this village as a staging area wouldn’t go away. And yet, I didn’t detect any cerebral implant or control collars that might indicate that this simian species had been enslaved to the service of powerful off-worlders.
After a brief hesitation, I circled back to the inner courtyard where the lab was located. I proceeded to another scan to confirm the absence of any kind of technology that could detect the signal I was preparing to send to the three doctors’ implants. The organic device was designed in a way that it would fool most scanners into believing it was merely a mole on the person’s skin.
Once signaled, the host would feel a small pulsation indicating we were attempting to contact them. Based on protocols, if the target was able to move around, they were expected to go out in the open to allow facial recognition. If they couldn’t come outside, they had to provide one of four potential responses.
The first indicated that they could not come outside, which generally meant that they were physically restrained, be it by being locked in a space or shackled. The second expressed that they would need a bit of time before they could come out. In that case, they would attempt to give a time range for the wait. The third signal informed us that they were injured and therefore either unable to come out or in need of immediate assistance. The last signal indicated danger requiring us to leave at once before we got caught or attacked.
The target could respond with a mixture of all of the above. The challenge was that it required them to apply pressure on the subdermal implant in a specific pattern. If they were shackled or injured, it made that task nearly impossible.
My heart leapt when the doors of the lab opened less than a minute later. I held my breath and zoomed the camera as three humans exited the building. Tharmok’s teeth! My mate was even more gorgeous in person!
She had the face of a goddess, with high cheekbones, a delicate nose, plump and sensuous lips, with stunning eyes whose color I couldn’t quite define. Her file labeled them as gray, but they were too dark to truly be described as such, but too pale to be black. Her brown skin looked good enough to lick, it contrasted in the most wondrous fashion with the silky strands of her silver-white hair. Under the light of the early afternoon sun, they shone like a sea of diamonds. Despite being very generic, her field uniform hugged the perfect curves of her body in just the right way. It took every ounce of my willpower not to land my vessel right away and run to her.
Seeing Ciara raising her right hand and caressing her right cheek before sliding her palm down the side of her neck snapped me out of my dazed fascination. It was the sign indicating that they were unharmed and not in any danger. I sent a signal back acknowledging their response, as they continued to pretend to be casually chatting while stretching their legs.
They lingered a few seconds longer before going back inside. One final scan confirmed that there was no one else inside the laboratory with them. I only detected two female simians in the dwelling next to them. The superficial readings seemed to indicate that they were asleep. A single guard was casually standing watch by the gates closing off the inner courtyard where the doctors were detained.
After one final fly over to assess the best way to break them out, I flew a relatively short distance away—approximately a ten-minute winged flight for me—to a tall rock formation with a sturdy overhang upon which I landed my vessel still in stealth mode. I couldn’t risk leaving it in the forest or any other open area where the locals or an animal might run into it.
Anyway, I wouldn’t break out the prisoners just yet.
First, I wanted to enter the village, possibly set up a few diversions to help their escape, and ideally speak to one of them to get a better sense of what was happening. Before leaving the ship, I sent a message to Maeve with the coordinates of the village as well as the data and photos gathered so far from my scans. As there were no relays nearby, the message would travel for a while before it eventually got picked up.
And yet, a part of me suspected someone might conveniently be lurking in the vicinity of Kestria, ready to intervene should things truly become dire. Although I had limited interactions with the Enforcers on a daily basis, I had seen enough reports involving some of the foulest convicts incarcerated in my Sector to know what creative methods were used to capture them. The Enforcers rarely left things to chance. They simply excelled at finding workarounds to maintain plausible deniability. The same way they enabled me to come here, I didn’t doubt they had someone else ready to pick up any trail that could lead them to the identity of the Sectarians threatening the sovereignty of our borders.
Even without proof of that speculation, it still provided me with some measure of comfort. If things went belly up for me, at least someone would know for certain where my mate was so that they could take her to safety.
I opened the hatch of my vessel, activated my personal stealth shield, then took flight. Once again, I marveled at the beauty of the landscape. It reminded me of home, with the lush forests, colorful flora, clear skies, and fresh air softly laced with the sweet aroma of fragrant flowers. The sun caressed my wings with its warm rays, the weather perfect for an extended stay outdoors without the type of crushing humidity that could ruin places such as these.
As much as I wanted to fly directly into the courtyard, I couldn’t risk the sound of my flapping wings giving me away. Although my stealth shield also had a strong sound dampening feature, it didn’t fully mute it. I didn’t know enough about this species to dismiss the possibility of them having highly sensitive hearing. The position of the guard by the gate would make it nearly impossible to land without getting noticed.
Anyway, the goal of today’s infiltration was mainly to see how I could walk them out safely or make plans to fly them out individually at the most appropriate time. I landed in the forest located in front of the village, the tree line beginning about one hundred meters in front of the last row of their farm field.
I started walking carefully towards the village. At least twenty-three males and four females were working the fields on each side of the wide path that led to the gates. I welcomed the noise they were making, which further drowned the very discreet sound of my own steps. Even without it, they wouldn’t have been able to hear me from this distance and with the dampening effect of my shield. But you couldn’t have too many things on your side. They were harvesting what appeared to be some sort of corncobs, although the shape slightly differed, as did the color. Others seemed to be pulling out weeds and working the soil.
However, it was the color of their aura that retained my attention. During my flight, it had a bluish white hue that had been quite safe. Considering the distance and the blocking effect of the vessel itself, it wasn’t uncommon for our readings to be impacted or skewed. Now, in person, they all had a pale, yellow tinge that made me uneasy. As it remained far from anything that could remotely translate as danger, I continued my advance, my eyes flicking this way and that as I observed them, looking for any sign of potential trouble.
That they all focused on their work, aside from the occasional chatting, lessened some of my tension. Halfway through the path, I noticed the first shift in the color of their auras. The yellow tinge noticeably intensified. It had not turned orange or red—which would have been terrible in the latter case. It still made me consider aborting the mission. I hated not having a baseline for the color palette of these people’s emotional range.
They still paid me no mind. A couple of the males and a female picked up the heavy crates filled with vegetables to bring them to a chariot by the entrance of the village, before returning to their spots. The effortless way with which they carried them testified to their tremendous strength. It also told me that their females—at least this one—were as strong as the males. Then again, although more slender and with narrower shoulders, the females were at a height with their counterparts, the muscles in their arms well-defined like those of a fitness model.
Just as I was closing in on the last five meters to the village’s entrance, where the gates lay wide open, the color of their aura shifted again, this time with a hint of orange. My stomach dropped, and I stopped dead in my tracks. There was no way this was a coincidence. While the original yellow only told me that I should be on my guard, the increased intensity hinted that they might have been plotting something. But this was the color my convicts usually displayed when they were waiting for just the right moment to spring a trap on their unsuspecting target.
I didn’t know if these colors had a different meaning for these people, but my every instinct was yelling for me to get out of here. Silencing my urge to move forward and make contact with my mate, I slowly started to back away, my eyes fluttering in every direction for any sign they were onto me.
And did it ever come.
I had only taken three steps backwards when every single simian jerked their heads in my direction. My blood turned to ice when they all made direct eye contact with me. I instinctively glanced at my shield to make sure it was still active. And it was. Somehow, they could see right through it. As one, they dropped their gardening tools and ran towards me.
I flapped my wings and darted towards the forest. To my dismay, they ran at impossible speeds, closing in on me. Their perfect coordination accompanied by an eerie silence—other than the thumping sound of their feet—made it even more frightening. My heart skipped a beat when a male with a circlet jumped at least four meters high, his fingertips brushing my left heel. Only a couple more centimeters, and he would have grabbed my ankle to yank me back down.
I flew even harder as an odd tingling sensation manifested itself at the back of my eyes. My initial plan of losing them in the forest was quickly thwarted as they all leapt at insane heights, latching onto the first lower branches of the surrounding trees, swinging with incredible strength over a few meters onto the next tree. Many were climbing at the same time. A couple of them released a high-pitched shout, reminiscent of those emitted by monkeys. They didn’t sound random, but appeared to act as some sort of tactical direction to help them better coordinate their attack.
With the growing discomfort in the back of my eyes, it took me too long to realize that they were attempting to get enough height to be able to jump on me and tackle me to the ground.
I immediately soared, hoping to put enough vertical distance so that the upper branches would be too weak to support their weights, giving me a chance to escape. But no sooner did I begin my ascension than a loud noise exploded inside my head. My vision blurred, and I suddenly found myself struggling to control my movements. It sounded like an unnatural white noise, confusing my synapses and scrambling my motor system.
I started falling and barely managed to recover enough to go into a glide so that I wouldn’t plummet to the ground. The noise lessened, partially restoring my control over my wings and senses. But as soon as I tried to outrun them again, the noise came back with a vengeance, making me falter some more.
Having no choice but to land or risk grievous injury, I flew towards the ground but brutally crashed, my blurry vision making me miscalculate the distance. My teeth rattled in my head, but I rolled with the momentum and jumped back onto my feet. The unrelenting noise made my eyes water and my muscles tremble. I tried to focus on the silhouettes closing in on me as I invoked my Lumiak. My fingertips tingled with the electrical energy half a second before it fizzled. My knees buckled, and I fell down. A wave of dizziness crashed over me. Kneeling, my palms resting on the forest floor for support, I struggled to remain conscious.
In one last desperate effort, I blasted my bakaan . If nothing else, it might keep them from killing me. I couldn’t tell if it succeeded, but after multiple thumping sounds of the Simians jumping down from the trees and landing all around me, the noise in my head dimmed as they all stood still.
“A calming aura?” a male voice said with a hint of amusement. “That must be a useful talent to have with turbulent infants. But there is no need to appease us. We are not your enemies, Obosian. You may calm yourself and drop your shield. We expected you.”
How in Tharmok’s name did they know what I was when I had never heard of their species? How could they possibly expect me? How did they speak Universal so fluently? And especially, how the fuck could they see me?
In a way, that last question was stupid. Clearly, they possessed some form of psionic powers. I, as an Obosian, had the power to see souls, even through camouflage. They apparently shared similar abilities.
My mind still reeling, I deactivated my shield. I looked up at the tall and muscular male that seemed to be their leader, if only judging by the circlet on his forehead that none of the others possessed.
“You expected me?” I asked, hating to find myself in such a vulnerable position.
He nodded. “Do not give us reasons to hurt you, and all will be well.”
“Who are you?” I asked, as the pressure on my brain continued to fade. To my relief, their auras were steadily shifting to blue, the standard color for the absence of threat.
“My name is Aku. I am the Kald of Bryst, the village you were trying to sneakily enter. And these are my tribemates. Our people are called Kreelars. But do stand. You should be steady enough now.”
He didn’t have to say it twice.
I rose to my feet and dusted the dirt off me before readjusting my breastplate. No words could describe the extent of the mortification I felt right this instant. As an elite Obosian Warrior, deemed the best of my bloodline—which had earned me the management of our Sector on Molvi—I never should have been so easily defeated. Granted, I was seriously outnumbered. But they were primitive, land bound off-worlders without weapons. I had psionic powers of my own. I also possessed a blaster and a sword, neither of which I used.
Considering the current outcome—at least for the time being—I was glad I had not. Attacking or killing these people was the last thing we needed if the prisoners were to stand a chance of coming back home unscathed.
I just poorly handled the whole thing. The warning signs had been loud and clear. But in my arrogance and overconfidence in my ability to escape thanks to my wings had been my downfall.
If Father finds out, I’ll never hear the end of it.
While I doubted that he could read minds, the Kreelar named Aku gave me a teasing smile that seemed to hint he suspected what self-deprecating thoughts swirled in my head.
“We will relieve you of your weapons for the time being,” Aku said, extending a hand towards me. “You will get them back later, once we feel confident we have an understanding. Fear not, they will not be tampered with.”
I silenced my instinctive urge to argue. The unyielding glimmer in his eyes belied the polite sweetness of his voice. The aura of authority emanating from him screamed loudly what a formidable foe he could become if needed. A peek at his aura thankfully confirmed once more that he held no ill intentions towards me. Not that it would have made a difference. If I tried to resist, they would have no problem beating me into submission and still take away my weapons, as demonstrated by the ease with which they captured me.
Pinching my lips, I complied, which only had the Kreelar’s smirk expanding a notch. He handed it over to another male, comparable in size and musculature, but with a grayish-beige fur. At least, the care with which that second male handled them appeased me. It didn’t scream of fear of the unknown, but more of respect towards an item of value.
“Walk with me, Obosian,” Aku said, gesturing towards the village.
“My name is Amreth,” I said grumpily.
“Then Amreth it is,” he replied in a conciliatory tone, as we began walking.
“But you haven’t answered my initial question. How come you expected me?” I asked.
He gave me a sideways glance and raised an eyebrow that clearly indicated I was being a bit too cocky. Obviously, I wasn’t in a position of power. However, my people had the tendency of being blunt and straight to the point about everything. It occasionally came across as being rude, entitled, or arrogant, which actually was not intended.
To my surprise, he indulged me.
“Our friends warned us that you would come to rescue your mate. Except, she doesn’t need to be rescued. She requires your help,” Aku said in a factual manner.
“Help with what?” I asked, confused.
“With completing her task. Once that is done, all of you can return home,” he replied in the same neutral tone.
“And what task would that be?” I insisted, starting to feel annoyed by the slow drip-drip of information.
“Righting the extreme harm humans inflicted upon us,” he replied, his eyes and voice hardening.
“Humans?!” I exclaimed, stunned. “When? How? Your planet is under very strict restrictions from the Prime Directive.”
“And humans violated it by traveling in forbidden areas well beyond Sangoth territories,” Aku snarled. “Because of their carelessness, the humans infected us with a deadly disease that now has my people on the verge of extinction”
“Tharmok’s blood!” I breathed out, shock giving way to understanding. “So that’s why you took the prisoners. You want them to find a cure!”
He nodded, his expression grim as we cleared the tree line and stepped onto the wide path leading to the village. With a stiff gesture of his head, Aku signaled to his tribemates that they could go back to their duties tending the fields. All of them complied, but for two males who remained with us as we continued down the wide path towards the village.
“But if you found a way to travel off-world to abduct these scientists, why not simply go public with how humans wronged you?” I asked, baffled. “The UPO and all the allied planets would have put every resource at your disposal to fix things and make the culprits answer for their crime.”
Aku shook his head with a conviction that took me aback. “We explored all such scenarios. Every single one of them ends up in a much worse fate for us. Some powerful people in your world stand to lose a lot if this is exposed the way it ought to be. Exterminating a primitive species that no one has ever heard of to keep their secret can be tempting for those with the means to accomplish that.”
My back stiffened, my protective instincts firing on all cylinders, while my bone deep need for justice demanded I hunt down the culprits and subject them to the righteous retribution they deserved.
“How do you know that a worst fate will befall you if you bring them to justice? They cannot be allowed to get away with something so atrocious, if it’s true. Beyond the fact that they must answer for their crimes, if they are allowed to get away with it, what prevents them from causing similar or maybe even greater harm to someone else?” I challenged vehemently.
He gave me the type of indulgent smile one would give an overly excited child. “Have no fear, Amreth. Those responsible will pay for it.”
“We need justice, not vigilantism,” I countered with a frown, my voice stern.
He snorted, and his amusement cranked up a notch. “There will be no vigilante activity involved. You , Amreth, will see to their punishment.”
I recoiled, stunned not only by his words, but also by the certainty with which he spoke them.
“Me?” I echoed.
“Yes, Warden ,” he said, his emphasis on my title making me even more curious.
“Who in Tharmok’s name are your friends?”
“Just good friends,” Aku replied in a tone that made it clear he would not expand further.
“How do they give you this foresight?” I insisted.
“They just do,” he said with a shrug, his expression broadcasting loudly that I should drop the topic.
Annoyed, I sorted through the billion questions I wanted to ask him, especially when it came down to the identity of the powerful people he had alluded to. But he didn’t give me a chance to do so.
“This is our village, Bryst,” Aku said as we finally walked through the open main gates.
Although primitive by galactic standards, the village was actually quite beautiful. A large square greeted us, covered in colorful pavement forming an abstract motif. I didn’t doubt it usually served for mass gatherings, and possibly an open market. All around it, various one-story buildings made of wood and clay created little clusters akin to street blocs. They had erected a handful of much bigger buildings with stone and bricks. All of them boasted light colors of beige, brown, and khaki, with proper glass windows. The streets were all made of packed dirt delineated by a decorative stone or pavement border. Plenty of plants, trees, and colorful flowers gave the place an inviting feel to it.
I detected no clear signs of electrical power or of any type of transportation technology like vehicles. Very few people loitered in the streets, mostly females and a handful of children who eyed me with undisguised curiosity. To my relief, none of their auras expressed hostility. Whoever their friends were—undoubtedly Sectarians—they convinced these people that I would be some kind of ally. While that served my purpose and prevented my initial blunder from having an unfortunate outcome, it made me all the more eager to find out their identity, and how they got involved in the first place.
We immediately made a right towards the other gate which controlled access to the inner courtyard where my mate and her colleagues were held. My pulse picked up at the prospect of meeting my Ciara in person. She seemed well when she stepped outside the lab earlier. Judging by my interactions with Aku so far, I had no reason to worry she had come under any type of mistreatment.
But how will she feel about my presence?
Had Aku told her that their friend had foreseen my arrival? Was she looking forward to it? According to Kayog, she had been eager to meet me. However, she certainly had not expected it to be under such circumstances.
To my surprise, instead of leading me to the lab, Aku took me to a dwelling on the opposite side of the inner courtyard, directly facing it. I glanced at the deployable building over my shoulder only to see one of the two males accompanying us make a beeline for it. The one who remained with us held my weapons.
The Kreelar leader opened the door to the dwelling and waved me in.
“You will share this dwelling with your mate,” he said as soon as we entered the humble, but comfortable living area.
“What?!” I exclaimed, staring at him in shock.
“Peace, Amreth,” Aku said with that obnoxious taunting tone I was starting to grow familiar with. “I am aware you two have never met. There are two bedrooms. She will have her privacy. But if sharing a dwelling is truly problematic for either of you, we will make arrangements to move you elsewhere.”
“I see,” I said, tension bleeding out of my shoulders.
Obviously, I much preferred sharing a home with Ciara, if only to be able to protect her in whatever capacity I could. But I wanted her to feel comfortable with me, and not like my presence was being imposed upon her simply because a Temern had declared us soulmates.
“We will not shackle you, or spy on you,” Aku said, his face taking on a serious expression with a hint of warning. “I will trust your honor to do right by my people before you depart, and that you will not attempt to escape before this situation is resolved.”
“Trust? You don’t know me. That seems like a reckless leap of faith,” I challenged, my wretched Obosian mouth speaking my mind when I should rejoice about this.
“I can shackle you if you insist,” he replied, his tone only partially teasing. “But no, Warden, when it comes to this specific matter, no decision I take is reckless. But a leap of faith? Yes, I will concede to that. I have total and complete faith in my friends. They say you can be trusted, and that you will remain until this matter is solved, just like they foresaw that you would come here. So yes, I will trust in your honor.”
I tilted my head to the side, unable to resist the need to poke at his logic, but also to get a better sense of who I was dealing with.
“I do not know your friends or how their foresight works. But what if I do not want to help your people? What if I choose to challenge their assertion that I will aid you? After all, however good your intentions, you committed a crime to achieve your purpose.”
To my surprise, he shrugged, seemingly unfazed by my words. “It will sadden me and delay the resolution to this tragedy. In turn, it will likely cause more unnecessary deaths. But I cannot coerce you into helping solve a situation you did not create. So should you refuse to assist, you will simply have to remain here until it is safe for us to release all of you.”
I stared at him in shock. A glimpse at his aura revealed no deception. He would truly not twist my arm or use my mate as a cudgel to force me to obey their demands. To my shame, he struck me as being a much better person than I wanted to believe myself to be.
I opened my mouth to respond, but a bright light at the edge of my vision drew my attention.
“Your mate approaches,” Aku said in a soft voice.
My mouth instantly went dry as the most beautiful light I had ever seen—although dampened by the closed door between us—held me in a thrall. The glow of her escort’s aura annoyed me to no end as it mingled with hers due to his proximity.
Moments later, the door opened, and my brain ceased to function.
Tharmok smite me, she’s pure perfection!
“We shall leave you with your mate,” Aku said.
The slightly mocking edge in his voice barely registered in my mind. I was too enthralled by my woman. She gasped, and her eyes widened as she stared at me, before casting a confused look at Aku.
“My mate?!” she exclaimed, seconds before she seemed struck by a thought. She jerked her head back towards me to examine me with shock and disbelief. “A… Amreth?” Ciara asked in a hesitant voice.
“Yes, Ciara. It is I,” I said, stunned that I even managed to form any words.
Aku’s soft chuckle snapped me out of my dazed trance. I glanced at the Kreelar only to catch him looking in turn at my mate and me with a satisfied grin. In a flash of sudden understanding, I realized he had somehow known this exact scene would take place. Something in the way it played out pleased him.
Without another word, he gave each of us a farewell nod then walked out of the house with his tribemate.